Tide Turning Technique!

Three days later, at Kui Shui Pier, in a room.

"Steward Li, you're here."

Brother Xin pushed open the door with a broad smile and respectfully ushered Li Xian inside.

This time, Li Xian had come to take over this outpost as its steward.

Three days earlier, after Li Xian had revealed at least Mid-sixth Grade cultivation in his battle with Huang Jinglong, he had immediately caught the attention of the Cao Gang's upper ranks.

After a series of investigations and assessments, they had finally decided to appoint Li Xian as a steward.

Having strength really made a difference. He'd walked in and been treated like a steward from the get-go.

But nobody here dared to object. They had all seen Li Xian in action with their own eyes, after all.

"Tell me, has anything around here come up lately that needs taking care of?" Li Xian asked as soon as he sat down.

Resolving problems for the Cao Gang earned merit, and Li Xian needed that merit to gain access to the Cao Gang's Scripture Repository.

Over the past few days, Li Xian had already learned everything there was to know.

He also had a joining bonus from the gang.

A water-based cultivation method—the Tide Turning Technique.

Li Xian had glanced it over, then spent a dozen or so Proficiency Points to train it to the highest level.

After all, he'd be dealing with water a lot in the days ahead. A water-based technique could only help, never hurt.

Over the years, Li Xian had accumulated several thousand Proficiency Points.

At this point, he was short on cultivation methods, not Proficiency Points.

"There really is one troublesome matter."

"Oh? Let's hear it." Li Xian grew interested.

"Across from the pier, there are a few pleasure boats. That area's under our watch, too. The boys often go over there to unwind. Steward, would you be interested? The girls on those boats are something else..."

Li Xian's expression darkened. "Get to the point..."

"Oh, right, right. The point is, not long ago, a few of the boys went to have fun on one of the pleasure boats, and they all disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Li Xian asked, confused.

"Right. We couldn't find them. We went to investigate, and the girls on the pleasure boat said the men had gone home that night. But when we asked the others who'd gone with them, they said they hadn't seen the men get off the boat at all. Steward, don't you think it's strange?"

Li Xian narrowed his eyes. "Someone's lying?"

"That's what we thought at first, too. But then the same thing happened to several more of the boys, and we started to feel something wasn't right."

"What do you think happened?" Li Xian asked.

"We think it was the work of Demonic Evil!"

Demonic Evil!?

At those words, Li Xian couldn't help thinking of the Mountain Imp he had beaten to pieces on Partridge Mountain that night.

"Why do you think it was Demonic Evil?"

"Nothing but Demonic Evil could pull off something this uncanny," Brother Xin said with certainty.

Li Xian neither agreed nor disagreed. He simply smiled and said, "Then take me to have a look at the pleasure boats tonight."

"Sure thing!"

"Oh, Brother Xin, you're finally here! You haven't come by in so long. I've missed you to death!"

It was obvious that Brother Xin was a regular on the pleasure boats. Before he'd even boarded, a crowd of girls had already surrounded him.

Brother Xin didn't hold back, grinning lecherously as he put an arm around one girl and pulled another close.

Following behind him, Li Xian turned his head and looked around.

The pleasure boats really were famous as Yangzhou City's dens of extravagance. People streamed on and off the boats, which blazed with light. There were all sorts aboard, from wealthy young masters to refined scholars, all hoping to cultivate an air of elegance and win a beauty's favor.

"Look, look! Miss Qin Cao is coming down!"

"Miss Qin Cao, I'll pay a hundred taels of gold tonight. Spend the night with me!"

"Eat shit! Young Master Ming offered five hundred taels last night and still got turned down. Take your hundred taels and go home to bed!"

"I'll pay a thousand taels!"

"Get lost! Our Miss Qin Cao sells her art, not her body!"

A commotion erupted aboard the pleasure boat. Every lecher was hollering at a girl coming down from the second floor.

Li Xian frowned slightly.

For some reason, when he saw Miss Qin Cao, he thought he caught the faintest trace of a fishy smell.

The smell of fish...

It lingered around his nose for a moment, then vanished without a trace. Li Xian nearly thought he'd imagined it.

And then there was the girl's name...

It was a little too much of a coincidence.

Li Xian couldn't help falling into thought.

Suddenly, Li Xian's heart stirred. He sensed someone watching him.

He looked up and met a pair of eyes as clear as autumn waters.

It was Qin Cao.

She smiled and nodded at Li Xian, as if greeting an old acquaintance.

The sight sent the pleasure boat's lechers into an uproar.

"Who's that kid? What right does he have to make my Qin Cao smile?"

"Actually, if you ask me, it looks like Miss Qin Cao is the one smiling at him."

"Bullshit! No way. Absolutely no way!"

"Who's that kid? He looks unfamiliar!"

"He's the new steward at our Cao Gang's Kui Shui Pier."

Brother Xin said it with a proud look.

"Wait, Brother Xin, wasn't Boss Yang the steward at your pier? Why'd they replace him with that kid?"

A regular who came by often recognized Brother Xin.

Brother Xin glanced at him. "Since when is it your business what the Cao Gang does?"

"Uh..." The man was left speechless.

The Cao Gang was so powerful that, apart from the Governor's Mansion and the Demon Suppressing Division, no one in Yangzhou City dared to face it head-on.

Just then, Miss Qin Cao whispered a few words to the maid beside her. The maid then walked over to Li Xian in full view of everyone and said,

"Young Master, our mistress invites you to join her in her private room."

Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone there could hear her.

"Whoa!"

To those lechers, it was like a bomb had plunged into deep water.

They wailed in anguish, tears streaming down their faces.

"No! Why him? Why does that kid get to go to Miss Qin Cao's... room!"

"Hey, could you not pause for so long in the middle of a sentence?"

"Could that kid have something going for him?"

"Bullshit. He's just a little handsome. Look at that scrawny body. What could he possibly have going for him?"

"I told you, Miss Qin Cao sells her art, not her body. Stop slandering her!"

"Idiot!"

Even Brother Xin was curious about it.

"Steward Li, how come you get to go to Miss Qin Cao's room on your first visit?"

He was tempted, too.

He'd been aboard this pleasure boat so many times and didn't even know which room Qin Cao was in. Yet Li Xian had been invited by Qin Cao herself on his very first visit. Comparing people really could make you furious.

Li Xian smiled and said, "I don't know either. I'll go to her... room and ask."